Vasovagal Syncope

Hi all,

The August 2013 issue of the English "Fortean Times" magazine (click here) , has another very interesting article by English researcher Jenny Randles (click here.)

This article is about a medical condition named Vasovagal Syncope (click here.) This is something which Jenny herself, has had seven or eight attacks, over a 50 year period.

Vasovagal Syncope occurs when the body over reacts to certain triggers such as the sight of blood, or emotional distresses. It causes a sudden drop in heart rate and blood pressure. Then a brief period of unconsciousness occurs.

Jenny provides her personal memories from age eight when she felt light headed; heard a strange buzzing noise and lost consciousness. She relates that during her worst attack, "...my mind was sharply focused and reality somehow enhanced, not diluted." (p.27.) In one episode she underwent an out-of-body experience.

Possible connection to UAP:

"The deeper that I have looked into the connection between VS, near-death experiences (NDEs), and out-of-body experiences (OOBEs) the more it seems to me that they are interconnected." (p.27.)

Jenny cites the lucidity of OOBEs, and the belief during a VS attack, that you feel like you are dying.

Jenny then presents details of the case of a Coventry, UK, woman who was in a highly stressed state. She awoke from sleep to see white, oval shaped, pulsating light above her. "Everything around her felt very 'lucid"...all of a sudden I was pulled towards the light and merged with it." She floated away.

Vasovagal Syncope:

This topic of VS has been previously discussed in this blog, please take a look at:

http://ufos-scientificresearch.blogspot.com.au/2010/11/life-with-aliens-part-two.html

http://ufos-scientificresearch.blogspot.com.au/2010/11/many-pathways-to-abduction.html

Out of body experiences:

For posts on OOBEs please take a look at:

http://anomalies-australiancomments.blogspot.com.au/2013/07/out-of-body-experiences-on-tap.html

http://anomalies-australiancomments.blogspot.com.au/2010/11/research-on-obes.html

http://anomalies-australiancomments.blogspot.com.au/2009/10/obes-in-lab.html

http://anomalies-australiancomments.blogspot.com.au/2009/10/out-of-body-experience-precipitating.html

Near death experiences:

For my blog post on a relatively new book on NDEs please go to:

http://anomalies-australiancomments.blogspot.com.au/2011/03/near-death-experiences-new-book.html

I'd appreciate hearing from anyone else who has been conducting research into this fascinating area.

UAP and spontaneous human combustion

Hi all,

I have been catching up with some old issues of the English magazine "Fortean Times" from my local library. I always look forward to the "UFO Casebook" column by Jenny Randles.  The July 2013 column was no exception. Jenny's work is always thought provoking.

In the column, Jenny mentions that she is working, with colleague Peter Hough, on "...an e-book version of an investigation that we carried out into the mystery of SHC (spontaneous human combustion) and the ensuing debate over potential natural and more extraordinary causes that might explain what occurs in these cases." (p.31). The column looks at a possible relationship between their SHC idea that some people can generate vast amounts of static electricity, and experience an electrochemical "overheating," and certain UAP events.

Examples:

Jenny cites some examples:

1. Halewood, Merseyside. A man saw a white "balloon" near his face and his skin began to tingle. His arm experienced "goose bumps" and his hair was standing on end.

2. Loch Raven Dam. 1958. Car stoppage case. Witnesses felt sensation on their faces while UAP present. Red coloured faces similar to sunburn.

3. Risley, Cheshire. 1978. Witness to a "glowing white mass" had his radio receiver "explode" and he received sun burnt fingers. Plus his watch stopped.

4. Changi, Singapore. 1953. An orange ball travelled through a house. It passed the fridge, which overheated. Switched off lights glowed a dull orange, until the ball left.

Hypothesis:

"...I am suggesting that we apparently have accidentally discovered some science that illuminates the physics of UFO encounter cases in which an energetic UAP (unidentified aerial phenomenon) or atmospheric phenomenon forms spontaneously and introduces change into the surrounding atmosphere or into a susceptible human who comes into close proximity." (p.31.)

Jenny suggest that:

"Perhaps people who are "super carriers" may prove to be especially prone to undergoing hyper-reactive close encounters, whereas others would just report seeing a light in the sky." (p.31.)

Australian cases:

I checked my Australia wide catalogue of UAP events and a quick review revealed the following cases which might relate to Jenny's hypothesis.

1. Childers, Queensland. 1969. "Sombrero-hat" shaped object with a glow, was seen by a family. They also heard a noise like a swarm of bees. The hair on the family member's heads and arms stood up as the object left. (North Queensland Register, 18 Jan 1969.)

2. Pinnaroo, South Australia. 1972. A woman's hair stood on end during the time she drove passed a grey-white oval shape, with lights on, which hung, seemingly only some 30 meters off the ground. (Personal investigation by this author.)

3. St. Helens, Tasmania. 1974. A car stalled after a brilliant light lit up the area. The car's occupants experienced a vibrating noise; painful electrical shocks to their bodies and a chocking smell. The adult in the car suffered a numb right side to her face and found a five cent sized red mark above her right eyebrow. In addition, her arms and fingers were badly swollen by the next day. (Tasmanian UFO Investigation Centre investigation.)

4. 60kms from Melbourne, Victoria. 1994. Four women in a car saw a large orange light near their car. Getting out they saw a large, diamond shape. One of the women was charged with static electricity. (Women's Day magazine, 26 Dec 1994.)

Have any Australian blog readers cases which they can add to this list?

"Alien End Game?" - Jenny Randles and UAP

Hi all,

In an article titled "Alien End Game?", English researcher Jenny Randles, takes a look at the question "Do we need the concept of aliens in the modern UFO pantheon or are these beings just a space age equivalent of the dragons and the fairies - a once culturally relevant motif, that suited a particular time and place from which we have since moved on?" (Fortean Times  No. 297, March 2013 p.29.)

CE3s "have fallen off a cliff."

Jenny points out that "Another oddity is that reports of "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" have fallen off a cliff. Between the 1940s and 1970s, reports of aliens alongside or inside UFOs formed most alien contact. A dramatic rise in claims of abductions followed. By the 1990's, these were the majority of reported alien contacts and CE3s were vanishing. Today, abductions are far fewer and CE3s are all but gone."

"Real aliens likely are out there, but I believe that astronomers will find them, not ufologists. Instead, there is real potential to make discoveries in areas such as the nature of consciousness and rare atmospheric energy sources to tame and use as a future resource. But we will only find these if we look in the right places - and we will only look if we lay aside our frustrating quest for beings that, in the end, appear to be illusionary. We should instead call an end game to that quest and search for the true cause of puzzling UFOs."

This line of thinking was explored in one of Jenny's previous articles in Fortean Times No. 295, January 2013 p29.) Two cases are presented where independent witnesses saw something different to the primary witness.

Sweden:

In Lindholmen, Sweden, a man was walking across a road when there was a blinding light. In hospital, his body showed signs of static electricity. Via hypnosis, he recalled alien contact. "A second person passing by on an adjacent road had seen what happened. They did indeed observe the unusual ball of light fall from the sky...but they did not see any aliens or the witness being floated in the air."

On 8 October 1972, in the UK, a security guard heard a humming noise, then saw a disc shaped object hovering nearby. It left at speed. A second security guard just metres away from the first, saw nothing unusual at all.

Jenny postulates "Does this variation in  the 'depth' of a UFO experience relate to a witness' proximity to a UFO imply that our perceptions change the closer we are to an associated energy field?"

"My data suggests that as we enter such a 'Sphere of Influence' the way we "experience" a "UFO" is indeed altered. The UAP or glowing energy ball described by more distant observers is perhaps an indication that they were experiencing the phenomenon through lower levels of distortion, and that these escalate as they approach the sphere and their exposure to its energy increases. They may even detect this rising energy as a buzzing sound, a tingling in the brain, before consciousness is progressively affected, triggering perception of a fantastic close encounter."

Vehicle interference cases:

Likewise, in the February 2013 issues of Fortean Times page 29 Randles examines the reduction in numbers of vehicle interference cases, concluding "...the apparent fall in car stop cases could be hard evidence that these UFOs are not extraterrestrial in origin, but an unidentified atmospheric phenomenon."

Australian examples:

Jenny's articles struck a chord with me, and two striking Australian cases came to mind.

On the 16th September 1974 at St Helens in Tasmania, a woman and her two children were travelling by car at 2115hrs. Light rain was falling. They heard static on the car radio, then the car lost power, then stopped. The vehicle's headlights, radio, heater and dashboard lights all went out. A deafening vibrating noise enveloped the car for a minute. Quite painful electrical shocks were felt by all three passengers. The car was then filled with a chocking smell. The occupants fled the vehicle. When they returned all was normal. Mrs Richards suffered a numb right side of her face and a five cent sized mark above her right eyebrow. The day after the event, her arms and fingers were badly swollen and she had difficulty walking. (TUFOIC files.)

The second Australian case happened on 5th February 1979 at Lawitta Tasmania.  A man was driving his catr alone at 2150hrs and noted that his car radio had stopped working. Seconds later, an intense white light enveloped the car and he could not see beyond the bonnet. The car's lights and motor failed. The next thing he remembers is being stopped by police. He was taken to hospital, examined and found to be in a state of shock. His Ford Cortina T71C was found to have a flat battery; and had a low oil level. The cutoff switch in the alternator needed replacing as did wiring, especially of the headlights. The radiator's water level was also low. (TUFOIC files.)

What do blog readers think about these ideas of Jenny's?

"Life with the aliens Part 4."

Dear readers,

Oh, for more Sundays, when you can lie in for a while and not have to rush. Then off to my local library to browse the magazines area. While there, I found the December 2010 issue (FT268) of the English Fortean Times, which contained another in a series of articles by Jenny Randles.

Part four of the series "Life with the Aliens" commences with the account of "Graham" who wakes paralysed, and then with an "explosion of light" found himself "inside a room filled with bright, soothing light." "In a blink, he found himself sitting up wide-awake in bed."

Jenny poses the question, "How do we interpret something like this?" She mentions OBEs, NDEs and alien abduction experiences as contexts within which to consider the answer.

"The links between these supposedly divergent phenomena is obvious, in my opinion, and suggests that an NDE and an alien contact might simply be two sides of the same coin, the context and the disposition of the witness or investigator determining how they are pigeonholed."

Jenny then recounts the story of "Eileen Arnold" who, in 1942, looked up to see "...a large oval mass with light pouring from the sides." To Eileen, time stopped.

Later Eileen "...began to have intuitive experiences or visions of other realms." Messages poured in. Jenny "asked Eileen how real were these 'communications' and she confirmed my suspicion that they seemed hallucinatory..."

Jenny recalls her communication with American Kenneth Ring. "I argued that these alien contacts might be 'living daydreams,' technically a form of lucid dreaming."

"My suspicion is that alien contacts happen similarly, but not always during sleep. Instead, while awake, the subconscious mind takes control of the waking conscious landscape...transforming it into images that are then reported as a close encounter."

Comment:

A perceptive interpretation by Jenny, given the latest work of American neurologist Kevin Nelson, see Keith Basterfield's post at
http://anomalies-australiancomments.blogspot.com

"Life with the aliens" Part 3

Hi readers

This post is a continuation of two previous ones (See here and here)

The third part of Jenny Randles' article titled "Life with the aliens" appears in the English Fortean Times magazine issue 267, dated November 2010 page 31.

Some quotes

"Over the last couple of issues I have looked at some cases reported to me that involve alien contact. Hopefully, this has shown how these strange affairs seem to tiptoe across the divide between many areas of the supernatural. They have elements of out-of-body and near-death experiences and mediumship, while witnesses describe a life history of paranormal events."

Jenny then describes the story of "Juliet." At age three she saw her first UFO, three large, orange/white lights just outside her bedroom window. "She rapidly underwent a 'learning curve' in which she started to become an avid reader and soaked up knowledge to the extent that her family were stunned by her abilities well beyond her age."

Jenny then observes "Most people can only remember events in their lives from about the age of three, yet large numbers of alien contact witnesses claim to have earlier memories, some even back to the time of their birth."

Jenny outlines three possibilities:

1. A consequence of the 'learning curve'
2. Something "...unusual in the way these individuals process memories that makes them able to perceive strange phenomena and experience accelerated psychological development
3. Research into fantasy-prone personalities "They, too, have unusual recall of early life..."

Communication

Jenny then moves on to communication between aliens and witnesses. "Witnesses often refer to how the aliens communicate, reporting that "They use my thinking voice' or 'They are talking inside my head.'"

"Are these hints that the essence of an alien contact is some dynamic process going on within the conscious of the witnesses?"

"I once told a frightened young girl facing regular alien contact to put a camera in her bedroom, as "Aliens don't like to be photographed." This proved an effective deterrent, and it was some time before they returned admitting "We did not come because of the camera." It seems likely that, rather than the aliens being scared of cameras, I guided the ongoing contact experience by implanting an idea via the subconscious of the witness."

In summary

Jenny then brings the above comments together in the case of 'Alan.' Alan had recall of an early childhood experience and many others in later life. However, "...he had found some notes that he wrote immediately after one of the early encounters; the contents were quite different from the version in his memory, having vivid, childlike alien images that had morphed over the years to incorporate things he'd read in UFO books."

Comment

These are some penetrating observations from an English researcher with 40 years of research data to draw on.

I wonder how many witnesses have written material from way back, documented at the time and ever compare this with their current memories of events?